AMONG THE MISSING

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15173, 11 January 1915, Page 3

AMONG THE MISSING

ABSENCE OF NEWS

ft will be a relief to many to hear that more- is being done to trace thoff>

who have been lost in.the- war (says- a London, paper). - The Red Cross in France now have an officer whose.w>!o business is to. s_arch, to follow. *op clues, and trdik down the wounded in

all the. backwaters over which, tbe wave ,<>•• fighting lias passed. No doubt it 'will-mean the "saving of-life. a. there must-.be many -sick men in Fran**-- now in remote farms and villages where there are n*> trained doctors or nurses available.

| There must be more heart-searching in soldiers' Homes over the- mi.'.ing than over the wounded and killed. If ono has lost no friend in this way one has only to turn to the agony column of English l-ewspn-.Ts to roali.se the appalling uncertainty that the bald communication '"Missing" conveys. There is nothing more-pathetic: in all the pages of the London "Times'' than these appeals by wives or for news oi" men who have been lost sight of, dropped out in the dark, in .imposts or reconnaissances, or cut off in detachments, perhaps as long ago as the retreat from Moiis.

The nearest relatives will have received the official intimation, necessarily so curt and'coldly impersonal, a day or'two before tl o name is published in the casualty list. They are told by the authorities that, when further information is received .it will !«*• communicated f-o.thom". Weeks pass. Tfrpy call at'Uie War Office, advertise iv the vew.«-cat>ei*s. ' write.io the I-lpadciuarter.s Staff," ou.dto every friend they have in the-.Expeditionary Force.. But iid to the present no. adeouate .mnehinery of searclt has been devised in the, easTs of those who are noi known to be dead, 'fr. prisoners- of 'war, or' wounded in a hosuital-. " -■ ,

[- If there i- a long «iloii' , e it is a'lv assumed that the ini-*sii! v '-* man is either a -orison fcr or dead. One fee's I that his frie-.'ls. if they had any information, would nattu'al'v sen'", his Tipple news, of,; when and where he was last >«en. Bn*- one does.not allow for tbe in- ; describnbV Hiaos.oi w'nr. An officer mnv be fi_*htir'T 'for wppßs r -' 1 with little ,*<'-t : Neither bis .friend's, life j nor his own seems to him of the .ame i as to us.by onr riuiet firesides whe-i we try lo inia_ine the shoe!. of war. The individual is sunk, in tho collective spirit of t-be regiment. One l> has tocarry on : notliina olse matters: tne thought of his frond's friends, if it occurs, is but' pa rh of the oveshadI owiMsr cloud of the general pity of [ thir.gs. L • The missing ma-i. m-y be too ill to I write" or i"\ or bis friends, may have written and-the letter, lias miscarried. It must be remembered that there is no longpr an'y;regrilar post in the dpnartmenfa which are.i'lynded. and a' b'tter'pristed elsewhei*-? in France: in the ordinary way takes many days to reach England, and th*> stream of men on the line of. communications may' pass him by. -One basi heSird of those* pathetic letters from the trenches', cheery, humorous,' and-confident, coming to a --dldieir's- -widow days after. she has -heard .-"."■fr he is dead. • .. •'•'-.-

I During-the 'South African War there ! were mai'V- cases in which people were left: tota'llyiii. tho- d -irk "about the fate of their i<:i]a*tives. The 'xniscarriase of news' is sometimes . inevitable. There ; was :^*-n' incident, at Paartieburg "where aTcavalry- subalterh-fohiid himself by ■the side of-an'infantry major 'in a.'shallow improvised,trench tinder heavy fire. The subaltern was hit in the, shoulder, and arm, .md the major had bullets through the .chest-alid both knees, 116 was in.a had way..dying from loss of* blood, and, ho. told- the subaltern his name and regiment and his father's address. .-■ In ■ going for aid tbe subaltern lo."-'consciousness'when he had eraWlod a-few yards from the trench. When ho canie to he saw the man dV in the.arms of ait/ambulance man. The sulialtern then liti-vo his neighbour's message to an officer, made him promise to. write, and then lost consciousness again. Two months * afterwards.; when invalided home.* h© called.oh the father, who be-, lieved that his son was still alive. The man to whom the suba'te-n had given the message-had shot thou'arh'tho head immediately afterwords. Stories like this help one to understand the neetl of 0 ,- *_an.isfd search work" such as the.Red Cross aro now undertaking.